


Our Chosen Path

by aeriamamaduck



Series: TES/DA Series [4]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Love, Minor Character Death, Parent Death, Parenthood, Pregnancy, Relationship(s), Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 20:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7654969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeriamamaduck/pseuds/aeriamamaduck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martin rushes to Minerva's side after a devastating tragedy, not knowing what other news awaits him.</p><p>Modern AU TES/DA crossover where the Champions of Cyrodiil and Kirkwall grow up together and face the perils of their late-20's and law school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Chosen Path

The heat was on full blast but Martin didn’t feel any warmer as he sped towards the suburb where Minerva had grown up. He’d been driving for a few hours on cold, lonely roads from Kvatch, trying to get there as quickly as possible after hearing the desolation in Minerva’s voice over the phone as she told him her parents had died earlier that day.

_“I just…I really need you with me…”_

He’d readily agreed, the suffering in her voice calling him from his father’s home so he could be with her. It was well after midnight and driving in these conditions made him cautious, especially after Minerva had explained how her parents had died clipping a utility pole and rolling into the icy river. She had likely already gone to identify the bodies, though she’d assured him she’d still be in her parents’ home by the time he arrived.

He clenched the steering wheel, not wanting to think of her alone in that house. He was grateful Garrett was with her, at least.

His phone cheerfully announced that he’d arrived at his destination, and he pulled into the lonely driveway. No Christmas decorations whatsoever, though Martin knew Minerva’s family were devout Catholics. He made his way up the steps and rang the doorbell, anxious to see her and make sure she was alright. He was tired of reliving the emptiness in her voice over the phone and _needed_ to hold her.

Moments later the door opened and Garrett was behind it, exhaustion showing clearly on his handsome face. “Martin! Thank god…” He ushered him inside, shutting the door against the cold.

Martin took off his coat and scarf as he surveyed the inside of the house. Everything looked utterly utilitarian, even the furniture in its sternness. He detected a hint of lavender scent, but his eyes quickly found an air freshener plugged into a wall socket.

Turning to the other man he quietly asked, “Garrett. How is she?”

Garrett took his coat and hung it on a rung on the rack beside the door. “Not good. Just…She’s upstairs in their room.” He turned his golden gaze on him, a frown wrinkling his brow. “What did she tell you over the phone?”

“She told me about the accident. Why? Did something else happen?”

Garrett looked like he was about to explain but instead shook his head. “…She can tell you herself, it’s just…She needs you right now.”

His worry increased by leaps and bounds. What else had happened that Minerva couldn’t tell him over the phone? Was it somehow worse than her parents dying in a car accident? “So she’s in her parents’ room?”

“Yeah. She took all of her stuff when she moved out, so they turned her room into a storage space. She never stayed the night when she came to visit since Mom always had a room ready for her.” Garrett led him up the stairs as Martin tried to understand what he’d just told him about Minerva’s bedroom. Mere hours ago he’d been at his childhood home, where his room was still somewhat intact from the time he was a teenager. Were Minerva’s parents so resentful of her choices that they wanted all traces of her gone?

That didn’t seem to be the case as he walked up the staircase and caught sight of the photographs hanging on the wall. Most of them were portraits of the same three people sitting in the same positions throughout the years, growing older and somewhat unhappier. Some were lone school portraits of Minerva, the wide smiles of her childhood becoming more subdued as she entered middle school.

They reached the second floor and Garrett knocked on a door that was slightly ajar. “It’s me, Minerva. He’s here,” he said quietly into the room before opening the door. He let Martin walk past him.

He saw her sitting on the edge of the bed, a box of tissues set beside her. One was crumpled in her hands. Her eyes were rimmed with red and she looked like she hadn’t slept in a week. He crossed the room just as she got up and took her in his arms tightly, her arms shakily wrapping around him.

“You’re here,” she whispered hoarsely, her face buried in his shoulder.

God, she sounded terrible. He stroked down the length of her back, feeling the tension there. “I’m sorry I took so long, love. Oh, baby, I’m so sorry…” How would he even _begin_ to imagine just what she was feeling? His adopted mother had died when he’d been too young to remember her, and he knew he would never mourn Uriel Septim when he died. The closest he’d ever come to this kind of loss was when his friends had died in that crash.

Garrett cleared his throat behind them. “I’ll be across the street, Minerva. Okay?”

Minerva nodded tearfully. “Gare…Thanks for everything…”

He smiled at her. “Call me if you want anything. If you want to come back you know you’re welcome.”

“Okay,” Minerva said in that same hoarse voice, hands tucked beneath her arms. They listened silently as Garrett walked down the stairs and shut the door.

Martin stared at her somewhat hunched form, as if her entire body hurt from grief. “I’ll go lock the door,” he told her.

“It’s okay. He has a copy of the key,” she explained, hastily wiping her eyes. She took a shaky breath as she looked at him, and her gaze became mortified. “Oh my god, Martin, I dragged you away from your dad. I’m so sorry!”

“No, sweetheart, don’t,” he whispered, kissing her cheek and holding her close as she continued to shake violently. “I want to be here. I want to help you get through this, okay? I love you.”

She clutched him tighter. “I love you too! Jesus, why didn’t I say that to them even _once_?” Her tears soaked through his shirt as she struggled for breath, so he led her back to the bed and sat beside her as she sobbed into her tissue.

It was a few moments before she could speak coherently. “…She drowned, Martin.”

He sat and listened, letting her say what she needed to say.

“They hit ice, clipped the pole and slid down that hill. The driver’s seatbelt hasn’t worked since I was learning how to drive that stupid thing, and I guess they never got around to replacing it. Dad’s neck broke and Mom was…” She closed her eyes and swallowed. “She couldn’t get her belt off and just drowned.”

Martin couldn’t keep from sighing heavily, imagining all-too easily the panic Petra Saturnius would have felt as she died. When he had his accident he’d lost consciousness almost immediately, and the pain he’d woken into made him wish for a rapid death. “Are you okay?” he asked her when it seemed that she was done. God, what a stupid question.

“I don’t know,” she answered, staring at the carpeted floor and twisting the tissue in her hands. She turned her gaze to him, wide-eyed and suddenly anxious. “I…I have to tell you something. It’s…really fucking important.”

Likely what she hadn’t told him over the phone. What was it that it seemed so much worse than her parents dying? It frightened him. Steeling himself he reached out and took her hand, squeezing it and hoping he was giving her _some_ kind of comfort. “Anything, honey. It’s okay.”

She took a shuddering breath, wiping her eyes again and looking straight ahead. “…I…I was late this whole week, so I took a test after finding out about my parents and it said…Martin I’m pregnant.”

He was stunned into silence, his heart kickstarting into what felt like fifty beats a second. He almost didn’t believe it, it seemed so out of this world that he would _ever_ father a child, but… “…You’re… _what?_ But…I thought we were–”

“Careful? I guess the condom decided it needed a night off. Or afternoon, depending on when it happened,” she said with a shrug, her nervous gaze still on him.

It hurt him to see that fear in her eyes. She’d made it clear multiple times how much she loved and trusted him, but this was…something else. Then he realized exactly what she’d said. “God…You’ve known this all day? You found out after…” He drew her into his arms again, the enormity of her loss stabbing at him. “Fuck, Minerva, I…I’m so sorry.”

She remained there, face pressed to his shoulder. “I couldn’t tell you over the phone. Not right after telling you about…”

“No! No, Honey, it…I get it, it wasn’t the best…”

“You’re not angry?”

He pulled away to look at her tear-streaked face. “Never. Not over this. It just happened.” Martin wanted to say so much more but had to ask her something important before making any assumptions about what would happen to them from this point forward. “What do you want to do?”

She answered without hesitation, “Keep it. I know we weren’t planning this right off the bat, it’s just…”

“Minerva, whatever you want to do, I’m right here with you,” he reassured her. “I can move in with you, or you with me. We won’t starve, it’ll just…”

“Change everything?” Minerva filled in with a breathless chuckle. She shook her head and looked away thoughtfully. “There’s still the bar exam for me, and…”

He kissed her forehead, wanting to urge her trepidation away. He wanted this, with her, with the baby she was having, never once thinking before she came along that it was something he even deserved. “It’s called paternity leave. I won’t leave you alone in this, Minerva. I’m just sorry you had to find out like this.”

“Me too.” She drew away from him, letting out a long breath and rubbing at her eyes. “…Christ, I’m tired. Has it really just been a day? Not even a full twenty-four hours…”

He was worried. She looked utterly exhausted, though he doubted her sleep would be at all restful. “Were you…planning on sleeping here?”

She frowned. “God no. That’s a little too morbid. I just came here to…I don’t know, not say goodbye. Just…It’s wrong that I left the way I did. It was my home. Still is, even if they got rid of my stuff. I thought about the couch, but…It’d just feel too fucking lonely. And I left poor Sawyer alone with Danny.”

She missed her cat. Of course she did. “Do you want to go back to Garrett’s house?”

She nodded slowly. “I think so. Yeah.” Then she looked at him hopefully. “You’ll stay?”

“Of course I will. Mrs. Hawke won’t mind?”

“I have a room to myself.”

She quickly gathered what tissues she had already used from the floor, still sniffling a little. Martin followed her back down the stairs, watching the stiffness in her walk as if she were in pain. Her emotions were at odds, he knew that. She had too much resentment of her Spartan upbringing, but she still lost something important.

He got his coat on, watching her quietly get hers on before she opened the door and let herself out without so much as a glance back. Martin paused at the threshold to look at the living room, trying to imagine how someone like Minerva could have grown up in such a restrictive place.

He closed the door behind him, locked it with the key she’d handed him, and watched her walk back towards Garrett’s house with surer steps.


End file.
